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Jody Kropp Hinrichs, a Holyoke native and member of the 1950 Phillips County High School graduating class, is set to return to her old stomping grounds as she will be doing a reading and signing copies of her recently-released novel, “Triumph of the Spirit: land... love... life...” Saturday, July 27 at the Phillips County Museum from 2-4 p.m.

Written under the pen name JE Freis, the novel is a historical fiction piece about early homesteaders during the pre- and post- Dust Bowl eras of the Great American Desert. Much of the book deals with sustainable agriculture.

“The urgency of sustainable agriculture will resonate with farmers in the area, and in fact worldwide the call to protect the land, seeds and water is heard,” Hinrichs said. “We are at a paradigm shift in feeding the world while saving the earth.”

While the facts in the book are accurate, the characters are purely fictitious, a combination of people Hinrichs has met and known throughout her life. The structure for this novel came from the richness of the stories told by friends and family in her childhood home before they had electricity.

In the book, two half-breed elders learn to listen to the land as it is challenged by both man and nature.

“As an anthropologist, I have studied people from continent to continent and found that worldwide, people long for some spiritual connection with others and with the earth,” Hinrichs said.

Native Americans play a big role in the story as the spirit of the Cheyenne is used as a powerful reminder of where the people of the land came from and the responsibility they have to maintain the fertility of the earth.

“The deep respect for Mother Earth and all creatures has fostered, with me, a concern to create and maintain harmony and peace,” Hinrichs said. “I hope that readers will gain that perspective from reading my novel.”

The novel will be for sale at the museum at a discounted price. The book is currently available at Inklings in Holyoke, the Tattered Cover Book Stores in Denver, www.amazon.com or from Hinrichs directly at JE Fries, 1664 E. Dry Creek Place, Centennial, CO 80122.